Urusei Yatsura: Behind the Anime
by andyjay18
Summary: Urusei Yatsura as you've never seen it before, including all the drug problems, affairs, and arrests behind the scenes.
1. Default Chapter

Urusei Yatsura: Behind the Anime  
  
By Andrew D. Johnson, with thanks to Rumiko Takahashi  
  
Slick Narrator: It was the breakout anime hit of the '80s, the cartoon smash that captivated millions of people throughout Japan, and eventually helped introduce Americans and Europeans to dazzling Japanese cartoons, popularly known as "Japanimation" and "anime". It also helped bring its green-haired extraterrestrial female lead, Lum, to worldwide movie and musical stardom.  
  
But behind all the fame and fortune, things were not quite well with the cast of the hit Japanese series, "Urusei Yatsura".  
  
Ataru (20 years older and middle-aged): You can probably guess my medical bills were rather high from that show. My health insurance record was so bad, they didn't even let me in the building!  
  
Shinobu: It was just so hard to find work after that series! I was turned down for the roles of Ukyo in "Ranma ½", Skuld in "Oh My Goddess", and Miaka in "Fushigi Yuugi". I mean, it was probably because not many directors want to hire someone typecast as a mentally unstable second banana, but I think they were also kind of afraid that I'd hurl a piano or something at them when they made me do something over again.  
  
Mendo: I hated that series. Every freaking part of it. I mean, I told everyone I wanted to develop my singing career, yet that stupid show kept me down and didn't give me any breathing room at all! Gah! Get that camera out of my face! I need some time alone.  
  
Narrator: The series may have fond places in the hearts of most Japanese people who came of age in the early and mid '80s, and of most Western anime fans, but ultimately the tale of the cast themselves is one of substance abuse, betrayal, and the alienation of fame. Tonight on "Behind the Anime": Urusei Yatsura.  
  
(The "Behind the Music" opening theme starts playing, over flashing negative versions of various scenes from "Urusei". Some words run across the top of the screen: Dream, Fame, Success, Money, Groupies, Drugs, Arrests, Downfall.)  
  
Narrator: The story of "Urusei Yatsura", or, loosely translated, "Those Annoying Aliens", begins here, in the bustling Tokyo suburb of Tomobiki. (The camera shows a panoramic view of the city below.) It was here, in the fall of 1977, that the life of 16-year-old Ataru Moroboshi, then an ordinary schoolboy, changed forever.  
  
Ataru: Well see, I was just walking to school one day, when suddenly this huge tiger-striped spaceship comes out of nowhere! (Ataru is standing on the street in Tomobiki where it all happened.) Then this bright light shines down on me, and next thing I know I'm inside this spaceship! I was pretty scared then, so I asked their chief, "Who are you? What do you want with me? And where are you from?" I was obviously afraid they would dissect me or at least.you know, probe me where the sun don't shine! (Laughs.)  
  
Narrator: Of course, the purpose of the alien's mission was rather different.  
  
Ataru: And so then they tell me, we actually want to both experiment with alien-human breeding and conquer the Earth by mating a female alien with a human to produce a half-alien baby and propagate. I was obviously hesitant at first, but then they showed me.her.  
  
Narrator: "She" was Lum Invader, princess of the Planet Uru in the Andromeda Galaxy. Her race called themselves the Onis, perhaps because of their resemblance to traditional Japanese demons by that very name. Like Lum's race, mythological Onis are said resemble fearsome monsters, dress in tiger skins, have fangs and horns, and fly. However, Ataru, always having a strong libido, fell madly in love with her.  
  
Ataru: It was like, damn. You know how sometimes you see a girl or guy, and you just know they're the right one for you? Well, Lum was sort of like that. I say "sort of" because (starts laughing again) at that time my dream in life was to become the Japanese Hugh Hefner. (Cue "Theme from Shaft" as background music.)  
  
Narrator: Of course, there was a catch.  
  
Ataru: Well, I guess you know what happens next. We had to have a tag game to test my worthiness as a suitor. If I won, I Lum would be my girl. If I lost, Lum's family would have me for dinner, and I don't mean TO dinner.  
  
Narrator: Ataru was given a day to chase Lum around her ship, but one thing he hadn't bothered to check out; Lum could fly.  
  
Ataru: So the first couple times, yeah, I was kinda scared. But of course, it would get uglier later on, after the tag game.  
  
Narrator: But later, Ataru finally got lucky. (We see a reenactment of the two playing tag, in slow motion.) He found a patented Urusian plunger gun, fired at Lum's bikini top, and tore it off.  
  
Lum (1982 interview, giggling): I'm sorry, I laugh every time I remember this. So there I was topless, and he threw my top over his shoulder, and (HA HA HA!!!) grabbed my horns. I thought, omiGOD what a man, and it was right then that I decided I wanted him to be my "Darling".  
  
Narrator: In just the nick of time, Ataru had won the match. But there was still one more catch.  
  
Ataru: And so then, Lum tells me, "Whee! I'm gonna marry you, Darling!" And I'm like, "Whoa! I mean, you're cute and all, but I don't believe in steady relationships!" And so she refuses to even let go of me for the next week!  
  
Shinobu: Ataru and I were dating at the time, and I wanted to go steady, so that was obviously the end of us. (Giggles)  
  
Narrator: But it was the start of an adventure that would involve most of the rest of their lives. It seemed that Lum, once she moved into Ataru's house, set off a chain reaction that would make the once-ordinary suburb of Tomobiki a capital of weirdness. For instance, a couple months after Lum's arrival, two new faces arrived at their high school, Shutaro Mendo, heir to an industrial empire and the richest boy in Japan, and the sickly school nurse Sakura.  
  
Sakura (smoking a cigarette): I had plagued by disease demons all my life until I met Mr. Moroboshi. It seemed that all his inherent bad luck acted as a magnet for my diseases, which left me cured and completely healthy. (Coughs.)  
  
Narrator: And then more aliens began arriving, such as Lum's cousin Jariten, and childhood friends Ran, Benten, and Oyuki. Benten was one of the "Luck Deity" race, Ran was one of Lum's species from Uru but of a different race, and Oyuki was the princess of Triton, Neptune's icy moon. Eventually, though, Ataru began to feel as though the overbearing Lum was crushing and manipulating him, and constantly tried to escape her. But he was "shocked" to discover that Lum was serious about their relationship. (Show a clip of Lum shocking Ataru.)  
  
Ataru: The first time I felt like I was gonna die. But then, you know, you kinda get used to it, like in a sauna.  
  
Narrator: Their real-life antics amused tabloid-readers and talk show- watchers throughout their native Japan. So much so that in the summer of 1978, a 21-year-old manga, or comic book, artist named Rumiko Takahashi, looking for a new idea for a series, came calling on the Moroboshis.  
  
Ataru's Dad: She couldn't have come at a better time. My idiot son was going to have to repeat at least two more years of high school, and since Ms. Takahashi promised us a quarter of the royalties, we could finally help pay off our mortgage, plus rebuild our house after all those times Lum wrecked it!  
  
Narrator: Rumiko set to work, cranking out one 15-page strip a week, and "Urusei Yatsura" premiered in Shounen Sunday magazine in September 1978.  
  
Shinobu: I thought- wow! I'm drawn into a manga! The only problem is, she made my butt look big! (Bursts out laughing.)  
  
Mendo: As a rich elitist, at first I was against selling ourselves out like that, but then, when all the women started asking us for autographs.heh, heh.  
  
Narrator: The manga became phenomenally popular, and the real-life hijinks of Ataru, Lum, and the gang added fuel to the fire. Of course, some changes were made.  
  
Rumiko: Well, you probably know that in the debut strip, I changed some elements to make it more.exciting. For instance, I dragged the tag game between Ataru and Lum out over a week instead of just a day, and instead of the Onis eating Ataru if he lost, they would take over the world. I think it made the story all the more interesting, don't you? And then the idea that Ataru never wanted Lum as a girlfriend at first, so Shinobu would dump him. As an author, you have to think in the long term; how some action in the present could cause endless problems in the future.  
  
Narrator: By the beginning of the 1980s, "Urusei Yatsura" was one of the most popular mangas in Japan. Sure enough, in 1981, a producer from Fuji TV, one of Japan's largest television networks, came to Rumiko with an offer to produce an sitcom based on her comic. She introduced the concept to her protégés gently.  
  
Ataru: So she comes up to us and asks, "How would you guys like to be TV stars?" And I said, "Oh, no way! I'm gonna follow my boyhood dream to become Tokyo's best squid gutter!" Ha ha! I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't want to be a TV star if given the chance?  
  
Shinobu: Yes ma'am! Let's get this show on the road!  
  
Ataru's Dad: Well, since we were the stars, we'd be getting all of our share of the pay! So who wouldn't want to follow up on an offer like that! The only thing I was worried about was if any tension would come up between Lum and Shinobu regarding all the affairs I'd had with them since Lum moved into our house. So, when does that camera come on? Ohhh... Uh oh.  
  
Narrator: Tokyo's Kitty Studios set to work on taping the show in the summer of 1981, and the first episode of the TV series premiered on Fuji TV on October 14, 1981, in the 7:30 timeslot.  
  
Ataru: I was worried that the network execs distrusted the show and wanted to kill it. I mean, we showed in the same timeslot as "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "The Love Boat".  
  
Narrator: Whether the network wanted to kill the show or not, the show was an instant hit. By mid-season, in January 1982, the show was Japan's Number 1 program. The gang from Tomobiki had become unlikely superstars.  
  
Next:  
  
Ataru: Man, I couldn't believe how sweet life had become. We were on Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, "Celebrity Jeopardy"- we just had a golden touch. Sometimes it was great to be up that high.and sometimes it was awful.  
  
And later: Shinobu (voice cracking a bit): We got 50,000 letters a day from all over the world, and all of them were addressed to Lum, Lum, LUM!! I think there were something like FIVE for me all the time the show was on!  
  
Benten: I took one look at Lum, and.her skin was just hanging onto her like cloth. Those dark circles under her eyes, and the needle marks on her arms.I told her, Lum honey, you've gotta get help.  
  
Narrator: When "Behind the Anime" continues. 


	2. Chapter 2

URUSEI YATSURA: Behind the Anime- Part 2 Based on the true story by Rumiko Takahashi  
  
Narrator: By early 1982, the TV version of "Urusei Yatsura" had become a bona fide hit. Ataru Moroboshi, Shinobu Miyake, Shutaro Mendo, and a voluptuous alien girl named Lum were now celebrities.  
  
Ataru: Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of us. Especially all the groupies and hangers-on who swarmed around the gates to Kitty Studios wanting our autographs, photos, or advertising deals. For the next near-decade, we were never really alone.  
  
Mendo: As a TV star, you pretty much get used to being in front of a camera all the time, or being questioned by the media. But for me, my favorite guest appearance was our first one in America, on "The Tonight Show".  
  
(1982 TV appearance- Courtesy of NBC)  
  
Johnny: So, Miss Lum, I understand you're the first celebrity from another planet.  
  
Lum: Well, considering your planet hasn't yet officially established relations with any other, I would bet any alien to appear on Earth would become an instant celebrity, t'cha.  
  
Johnny: I've been a huge fan of your show. But tell me, Miss Lum, why do you keep saying "t'cha" after every sentence?  
  
Lum: It's just an Urusian honorific used to symbolize friendly relations with whomever we're speaking to, t'cha.  
  
Shinobu (reminiscing): And there was the music.  
  
Narrator: And there certainly was the music. When the show's theme song, "Lum no Love Song", or "Lum's Love Song", was released as a single in fall 1981, it became an instant chart-topper throughout the world. Further, equally popular songs followed, such as "Space is Super Weird", "Forlorn, Aren't You?", "My Dream is Love Me More", "I, I, I, You and Ai", and "Dancing Star". Then came numerous albums by the cast, including "Best of Urusei Yatsura", "Urusei Yatsura- First Season Soundtrack", "An Urusei Yatsura Christmas", "Urusei Yatsura Sings Elvis", "Urusei Yatsura Sings the Beatles", "The Urusei Yatsura Karaoke Album", and many more. When "Lum's Love Song" swept the 1982 Grammy Awards, the producers decided that the show's green-haired female lead had much potential as a musical superstar.  
  
(Clip from the 1982 Grammy Awards, courtesy of CBS-TV)  
  
Barbara Streisand: And the nominees for Best Full-Length Non-Novelty Television-Related Entertainment Song are: The Waltons and Grandmaster Flash for "Walton Wap", Scooby-Doo for his version of "MacArthur Park", "Urusei Yatsura's" Lum for "Lum's Love Song", and Rocky the Flying Squirrel's version of the "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe". And the winner is..Lum, for "Lum's Love Song"! (Lum jumps for joy out of her seat, accidentally zapping some nearby visitors.)  
  
Shinobu: So the next day, some execs come up to us and ask, would some of the women of the show like to form our own musical group? I had to give it some thought, seeing how I had never sung a note in my life before, but then one of them reminded me, when was the last time talent stopped a TV star from becoming a singer? Plus, seeing how I had broken up with Ataru and that Mendo didn't seem interested in me, I decided that maybe by being in a "girl group" then maybe I could attract someone.  
  
Narrator: And so the show's producers teamed up Lum, Shinobu, Oyuki, Benten, and Ran in an all-girl pop group called "Darling". Although Lum's preference of wearing bikinis while onstage caused indecent exposure disputes at some venues, the group became a touring sensation. When they first appeared onstage in April 1982, they opened for The Cars.  
  
Ric Ocasek (former lead singer of The Cars): I took one look at those girls, and I just knew they were going to be musical legends. They had that certain something; it was like a glow; a spark. Or maybe it was just Lum emitting electric sparks like she sometimes does; I dunno.  
  
Narrator: Of course, the riches of success were already beginning to take their toll.  
  
Ran: I first saw Lum snorting crack cocaine backstage in Miami. Of course, you know easy it is to get crack in that town. Of course, I was drunk at the time, so I didn't know how it would nearly destroy her later on.  
  
Narrator: Unfortunately, Lum had discovered cocaine while on her first tour with Darling, and had developed a dangerous habit that would grow to consume her. But on a lighter note, by the summer of 1982, the TV show was recognized throughout the world, and the girl group Darling had become an international sensation. It was time to conquer the big screen. Production for the first "Urusei Yatsura" movie, "Only You" began in midsummer and lasted until the fall.  
  
Oyuki: Oh Kami-sama, don't remind me of that period. We had to juggle shooting the movie and the TV series.  
  
Mendo: I had received offers to play Rambo's sidekick in what would be the first "Rambo" movie, as well as offers for cameo appearances in "Magnum, P.I." and "The A-Team". I was obviously upset at first- ended up firing the first of many agents (laughs)- but in the end I guess it was worth it.  
  
Narrator: Directed by Richard Lester of "A Hard Day's Night" fame, "Only You" opened in late February 1983. Even critics who thought the slapstick Japanese sitcom could never effectively cross over into a serious movie were quite surprised at the witty, avant-garde picture.  
  
(Clip: Shows a bunch of girls running down a street towards the camera, screaming. The camera then shows them running past, followed by Ataru, Mendo, and the Gang of Four, who are all mysteriously clad in dark suits and wearing "mop-top" haircuts. Background music: A Japanese-accented version of "A Hard Day's Night".)  
  
Megane: I loved being able to film that movie. It gave me a chance to get out of the cramped studio and run around outside. Sure, there was a camera in front of us, but at least we got the chance to actually run around.  
  
(Clip: Shows the cast running around in a large field, filmed from above. They're just aimlessly ambling around, and at one point lie down to make grass angels. Background music: A Japanese accented version of "Can't Buy Me Love".)  
  
Megane: You know, a lot of you don't know, that famous scene where I'm wandering around the streets of Tokyo, along the Nerima storm drain, looking all dejected; that wasn't me just acting. I had been out partying all night before; had a bit too much sake, and so that was just me.hung over.  
  
Narrator: The film was an instant smash, and the gang soon found themselves rolling in dough. The series was now one of the world's most successful enterprises. But the television industry was a rather different one from the comics industry, as creator Rumiko Takahashi was about to find out.  
  
Rumiko: Yes, I knew that some of my original story ideas had to be changed to better suit TV. But I'm just a manga writer, not a television writer. I didn't know that all popular sitcoms have to have at least one character die or at least be critically injured.  
  
Narrator: On the season's finale, May 25, 1983, the megalomaniacal intentions of ultrarich Shutaro Mendo went too far, on the show's plot.  
  
Clip: Courtesy of Fuji TV  
  
Mendo: Watch this model on my floor, Ryoko! I just press this button on my desk and.this huge disk comes out of Mount Fuji, blocking out the sun from all Japan! All this country will be forced to use power from the Tomobiki Nuclear Power Plant! Mwahahahahaaaaa!!!  
  
Ryoko: Gasp! Even someone as sadistic as I cannot bear such a thought! I.I can't allow you to do this!  
  
Mendo: Then get out of my sight! I shall sign the forms to legally disown you from our great family!  
  
Narrator: And at the end of the afternoon, Mendo left a town meeting where he had revealed his sun-blocker to the people of Tomobiki. But after he left the building.  
  
Mendo: Oh hello, what are you doing there? Don't you think you should leave? What's that you've got in your hands? I think you'd better drop it. I said drop it! Give me itttt!!!! (BANG!)  
  
Narrator: It was the series' first cliffhanger. The main suspects for attempting to murder Mendo were: Ataru, for Mendo's always addressing him by his last name, Shinobu, for cheating on her while on a date and rejecting her, Lum, for the Mendo's construction of an oil well on Planet Uru which leaked and caused an environmental disaster, Megane, for Mendo upstaging him on Lum's birthday, Oyuki, for Mendo Enterprises shipping toxic waste to Triton, Rei, for Mendo's stealing a cake baked by Ran, the entire population of Japan, and the Space Taxi Driver for the Mendo Enterprises spaceships clogging the intergalactic space highways and making his customers late. For the rest of the summer of 1983, all the world would be asking, "Who shot Mendo?"  
  
Coming up:  
  
Ataru: Well, my agent told me, women are going to want to have sex with me, and we want them to think they still can. So I would have to keep the fact that engagement with Lum was real a secret. Oh, and I'd like to set the record straight.I thought the PCP was just Quaaludes. (Smiles at the camera.)  
  
Narrator: When "Behind the Anime" continues. 


	3. Behind the Anime Chapter 3

URUSEI YATSURA: Behind the Anime Part 3 An exclusive look behind the scenes of Rumiko Takahashi's famous series.  
  
Narrator: It was the television event of the century.after of course the "M*A*S*H" finale, the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of Dallas, when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald live on TV, when Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had been shot on "Monday Night Football", and the debut of the Energizer Bunny and Budweiser Frogs. The 1983 season of "Urusei Yatsura" ended literally with a bang, when Shutaro Mendo was shot by a mysterious assailant. Throughout that summer, everyone around the world was asking, "Who Shot Mendo?"  
  
Benten: It was crazy. Everyone was placing bets on who did it, myself included. Of course I bet on Shinobu, since everyone thought it was her for Mendo rejecting her. I still have an old "Who Shot Mendo?" T-shirt. (Laughs.) Obviously I can't fit into it anymore! Kami-sama, it's been a while! (Holds up an old shirt.)  
  
Narrator: Obviously the producers didn't want the outcome to leak out, so no one involved with the show was told the true answer, not even the cast. In fact, several different endings were filmed.  
  
Scenes of Mendo being shot by Shinobu, Ataru, Lum, Ryoko, Onsen-mark, Tobimaro, Benten, Sakura, Rumiko, the Space Taxi Driver, one of Kurama's crows, female Ranma, and Mickey Mouse (the latter with a tommy gun).  
  
But finally, on September 21, 1983, the answer was revealed.  
  
Mendo (sitting up in his hospital bed with the entire cast and town of Tomobiki watching): The one who shot me was. (The camera pans toward Ten.) GAAAHHH!!! It was him! Him!  
  
Ten (starting to cry): Noooo!!! It couldn't have been me! I'm a good kid!  
  
Lum (rushing to Ten's side): How can you say that? He's a very good boy! Aren't you, Ten-chan?  
  
Ten (drying his eyes): N-no, Lum-chan. He's right. I'll tell you what happened. (We go to a flashback.) It was a bright, sunny afternoon as I was flying along like I always do, chasing a sparrow. And then the sun went out after Mendo blocked it out! I couldn't see where I was going because the streetlights aren't programmed to come on until 7 PM, and it was only 3 at the time. Well, then I crashed into a wall, and I must've fallen into something.  
  
Ten crashes into the wall of a large building and, knocked out, flutters downward into the loading bin for a large truck. The camera then pans upward to reveal the sign: "Old Mr. Hangover Umeboshi (pickled plum) Plant- Replacing Your Headaches with Bowel Troubles since 1905." Truck driver: Lower away, Matsumura! It may be dark as night, but you know what our motto is: neither rain nor snow nor dead of night will keep us from delivering your pickled plums all right!  
  
Plum chute operator: Actually, our motto is, "replacing your headaches with bowel troubles since 1905", Takasaki. Read the sign.  
  
Truck driver: Just do your job, Matsumura.  
  
The chute operator then pulls a chain and sends an avalanche of pickled plums rolling down into the truck.  
  
Ten (voiceover): I don't know exactly what happened, but when I came to, the pungent scent of pickled plums was all around me. I was obviously too young to be suffocated, so there was only one thing to do; eat my way out. And you know what effect pickled plums have on us Onis.  
  
Shot of the truck moving through the city streets, with a munching sound from the bed. Then Ten bursts out, his cheeks and nose red. Laughing crazily, he starts spinning crazy loops in the air.  
  
Ten: Cuzh thish is (hic) Thriller! Thriller all da (hic) night! Ah, hee hee heeee!!!  
  
The camera then shows everything from Ten blurry point of view, zooming dizzily through the skies, when he flies up to the Moroboshi's car, parked in the city hall parking lot where the meeting is taking place. He then spies Ataru's dad's handgun, sitting carelessly on the car floor after he dropped it. Ten then flies in and picks it up.  
  
Ten: Ooh, a lollipop! (He starts licking the barrel, his clumsy hands turning off the safety and just missing the trigger.) Ahh, the wrapper'sh shtill on. I godda get shomeone ta open it for me (hic).  
  
He then takes the gun and wobbles through the air to find someone. Then he comes across Mendo, just leaving the building.  
  
Ten: Hey, could yew help me open thish?  
  
Mendo: What's that you've got there? I think you'd better drop it. (He grabs the gun barrel and tries to pull it away.) I said drop it!  
  
Ten: Hey, whaddaya tryin' ta do, takin' candy from a baby? Give that back! (He and Mendo grapple for it, but then Ten's finger slips and the gun fires into Mendo's chest.) Ahh! The lollipop ekshploded! Ha ha haaaa! (He then flies off, stinking drunk, back to Ataru's house, randomly setting a few trees on fire enroute.)  
  
Shinobu: Then with your last ounce of strength, you pointed to the sign of a nearby bean dumpling shop called Jarimaro's, and then building next to it, whose address was 10 Shakujidori, and together, of course, the first parts of those two compounds make: "Jariten"!  
  
Lum: Well, I guess it would explain why I had to change your diapers at 4 PM instead of your usual time of 7:30.  
  
Ataru: Yeah man, you could've fertilized all of Hokkaido with those runs you had! Man, talk about a CRAPPY day! Ha haaa!! And boy did your breath stink.BWAAHH!! (Ten shuts him up by breathing fire on him.)  
  
Narrator: Of course, things were just as tense off camera as they were on.  
  
Ten (who now looks like a gangsta rapper, complete with a beanie, baggy clothes, and everything, and wearing a tank top labeled "Kid Rock"): You've probably heard about how I was the lowest-paid member of the cast. I always felt like the kid, the comedy relief, and when Lum caught me drinking and smoking pot with Danny Bonaduce, she made me attend a support group for former child stars and young comic reliefs. I got to meet Butch Patrick, Gary Coleman, that guy who played Cousin Oliver on "The Brady Bunch", the guy who played Sam on "Diff'rent Strokes", those two kids who played the youngest Brady boy and girl.Yee-uh, it was nice telling the therapist about our problems in life, but the part of those evenings I always remember was after our sessions, when we would go out and break car windows, T.P. the world with the help of my flying powers, and buy booze with our fake ID's.  
  
Narrator: But Ten's diminutive size wasn't the only thing keeping his salary down. Throughout the third season, the show's cast ballooned to nearly twenty members, including countless occasional and background characters.  
  
Ryunosuke: I mean.I didn't think I could act that well, and the whole unwilling transvestite thing only goes so far, but my dad told me, if the Dappya monsters could do it, then so could I.  
  
A Dappya monster (in an upper-class English accent, pouring some tea): They paid us in raspberry scones.  
  
Narrator: Meanwhile, Ataru and Lum had secretly been dating and talking seriously about their relationship. But, as mentioned before, they wished to keep their marriage a secret, so the two were officially wed in complete privacy on the secluded floating island of Togenkyo, after Lum's warlord father convinced the island's prince ruler. The island was temporarily moored at a spot in the South Pacific which is the furthest point from land in the world. Nine months later, on November 22, 1983, Lum gave birth to her and Ataru's daughter, whom they named Rumiko, after the woman who had made them famous. However, by the start of the third season, their marriage was already becoming strained by the show's pressures, which included work on the second "Urusei Yatsura" movie, "Beautiful Dreamer".  
  
Sakura: That movie was the most difficult for me. I mean, the plot. I just wondered, what the hell were these people smoking? (She takes a long drag from a cigarette.)  
  
Shinobu: It wasn't just the difficult stunts in the movie. I think I might have mentioned before that all the other girls on the show and I were really jealous of Lum. She got the most fan mail, was the most talked about, and had her picture in the paper the most times! And the only time I ever appeared in any paper was when the National Inquirer ran that headline, "Is Shinobu a lesbian?" And it was on Page Four! Fortunately I won the resulting libel suit.  
  
Narrator: When "Beautiful Dreamer" was released in early 1984, everyone was expecting the excitement and good feelings of "Only You" the previous year. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned.  
  
Gene Siskel (from their TV show): I.I don't know quite what to say. It's beautiful to look at, the plot is intriguing and deep.I think I'm going to have to give this movie a "thumbs up".  
  
Roger Ebert: Ahh, what the heck are you talking about? I couldn't tell what the hell was happening? I mean, what were those people smoking when they came up with this? Plus, it's BORING!!!  
  
Siskel: It's based on an old Japanese folktale, Rog. It's supposed to be a metaphor about the world of dreams and reality, sort of an existentialist thing.  
  
Ebert: Who the hell cares about Japanese folklore and existentialist crap? This HAS to be the dullest, most pretentious thing on screen since "Koyaanisqatsi"! These producers just don't realize that what moviegoers want these days are explosions and superheroes! People who actually get things done instead of talking about why we're here and where we're going! I give it two big, fat thumbs down!  
  
Siskel: Well you know what? I think you're a big, fat poophead! Nyaah!  
  
Ebert: Well you're.stupid! So there!  
  
Siskel: Well you're fat and stupid!  
  
Ebert: Why you.! I'm gonna kick your butt! Yaahh!!! (The two begin slapping each other.)  
  
Narrator: The movie was a big hit in its native Japan and a cult classic in the Western world, but unfortunately it failed to capture the vital American and Western European markets, and turned out to be an international bust.  
  
Ataru: I-I couldn't believe it. It was the first flop for something related to "Urusei Yatsura". But of course, I thought we had hit bottom there. Things could only improve.  
  
Narrator: Unfortunately, they hadn't hit bottom just yet. In April 1984, Ataru traveled to Hawaii to judge a bikini contest for MTV's Spring Break. On the way back, he had a bit too much alcohol and violently sexually assaulted an airline stewardess and several female passengers with his old friend and mentor Happosai, a martial arts teacher. On arrival back at Tokyo Airport, Ataru was arrested and spent the next six months in prison. In the meantime, his role in the TV show and third movie, "Remember My Love", was filled by his good friend Michael J. Fox.  
  
(Scene from the show)  
  
Lum: Darling! Let's go see "Ghostbusters" tonight! I've heard it's really funny, t'cha!  
  
Michael J. Fox as Ataru: Hmm.I wouldn't mind seeing that, but tonight, the acclaimed American economist Milton Friedman and the distinguished American political philosopher William F. Buckley are addressing the Diet (Japanese parliament) on the benefits of supply-side economics and the dangers of overdependency on Keynsian economics and the welfare state.  
  
Lum (sweatdropping): Uhh.maybe I'll ask Shinobu and Benten if they want to come. Y'know, sort of a girl's night out.  
  
Michael J. Fox as Ataru: Okay, why don't you do that. Meanwhile, see if they'd like to read these books; Buckley's God and Man at Yale and the latest issue of the National Review.  
  
Michael J. Fox (today): That obviously didn't work. I mean, who could mistake Alex P. Keaton for Ataru Moroboshi? Not me, brother. Those episodes had some heavy problems.  
  
Narrator: The replacement of the show's male lead made many viewers rather disappointed. Ratings around the world fell even after Ataru returned to the show. The third movie, "Remember My Love" was only a moderate hit in Japan, and a flop abroad. The girl group Darling toured only briefly. But the ultimate sign that the end was near, and the cast could not work well together anymore, came on September 28, 1985, when some of the cast appeared in Fukuoka to perform some skit comedy at a benefit to raise money for the relatives of victims of a disastrous Japan Air Lines jet crash near Tokyo.  
  
Ataru: Hello, Fukuoka! How're you people doing?  
  
Lum: Y'know, some people would say it's inappropriate to have skit comedy at a benefit for air crash victim's families. But I think those people don't know JACK!  
  
She claps her hands, and then comes a POOF! sound followed by streams of jack cards out of Ataru's neck, arms, and pant legs.  
  
Shinobu: Yeah? Well, what's the sound of one hand clapping? (Pauses a beat.) There isn't any, because you can't get gonorrhea by masturbating! (The audience breaks out laughing.)  
  
Lum(whispering angrily in her ear): That wasn't in the script. Darling was supposed to say the next line.  
  
Shinobu (angry): It's called ad-libbing. And besides, the audience seems to like it better than your lousy joke.  
  
Lum: Oh, shut up. I'm the star of this show; the rest of you are supposed to follow MY lead!  
  
Ataru: Hey, I thought I was the star! What gives, you green-haired control freak?  
  
Lum: Shut up, Darling! (Zaps him.) And as for you, I'm glad you get paid the least!  
  
Shinobu: Why you damn space bitch! (Lum and Shinobu start a catfight.)  
  
Mendo: Hey, how come I don't get a line for the next five minutes?  
  
Ataru (sticking his nose in the air): Probably 'cause the public wants more of yours truly.  
  
Mendo (drawing his kendo sword): You come over here and say that. At least I haven't gotten in trouble with the law, you sick-minded boozing pervert!  
  
Ataru: Yeah, probably 'cause your daddy built a legal loophole so you could avoid paying your taxes!  
  
Mendo (shocked): YOU SWORE YOU'D NEVER TELL!!! I'LL KILL YOU, MOROBOSHIIIIIII!!!!!! (He rushes toward Ataru with his sword drawn, but Ataru ducks out of the way just in time and stuffs a pillowcase over Mendo's head.) Waaahh!! It's dark! Get me out of here! It's daaaaaark!  
  
Narrator: And then some of the less billed characters arrived.  
  
Ten: Hey, how come we don't get to appear?  
  
Benten: I care about those plane crash victims too!  
  
Oyuki: You might want to give me a few lines. (Snow flurries start flying around her.)  
  
Ryunosuke's father: Hey c'mon, how about giving my son a few lines.  
  
Ryunosuke: For the last time.I'm NOT YOUR SON!! I'm a GIRL! (She starts whaling on her dad again.)  
  
Narrator: Before a riot could break out, some of the Dappya monsters saved the day by performing a song and dance routine.  
  
Singing Dappyas: We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind/'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, well they're. no friends of mine./It's the Safety Dance, Safety Dance.  
  
Ataru (today): Yeah, it was about right there that things started getting out of hand that night.  
  
Narrator: It seemed the dream was over for "Urusei Yatsura". Coming up.how the dream wasn't quite over. When "Behind the Anime" continues. 


	4. Behind the Anime Chapter 4

"URUSEI YATSURA": Behind the Anime Part 4  
  
An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Rumiko Takahashi's famous Japanese series.  
  
Narrator: After the disappointing fourth season, and air disaster victims' benefit disaster, it seemed things couldn't get any worse for the show and its cast. But of course they could. After the revelation by Ataru, Mendo was arrested for capital tax evasion, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, he was released after one month for good behavior. In the meantime, his role was filled by his old high school kendo team partner, Tatewaki Kuno. Kuno had won the gold medal for kendo during the 1984 Summer Olympics, the only time it was featured. But Ataru and Lum were becoming full-fledged alcoholics and cocaine addicts, likely to try to forget their lives' troubles. Despite the livelihood of their two-year-old daughter Rumiko, their marriage was also coming apart.  
  
Ataru: Dang.a lot of that time in my life is just a blur to me now. But I guess I do kinda remember a lot of fights at home.  
  
Ataru's dad: It was becoming a disaster by that point. None of the cast members would even speak to each other. But I thought my son's marriage would break up before the show did. There wasn't any love anymore-except for substances and money. You know, your typical show-biz relationship.  
  
Narrator: And ultimately, he was right. In early 1986, Ataru and Lum filed for divorce, with Lum and her parents claiming custody of their daughter. Just two months later, in mid-March, the TV series ended after a run of 4 ½ years, replaced by "Maison Ikkoku", a romantic comedy based on the strange inhabitants of a seedy apartment building near creator Rumiko Takahashi's college dorm. However, Miss Takahashi would continue the "Urusei" manga for another year.  
  
Shinobu: We just needed some time off, you know. Working with the same people everyday for four years can kinda grate on your mind. We still all loved each other at heart; we just needed to go off and do our own thing for a while.  
  
Mendo: I was so glad when that train wreck finally ended. I thought to myself, I'm free! I'm finally free from being tied down to these egocentric, sex-crazed jerks!  
  
Narrator: The cast managed to find temporary roles in other shows. Ataru played a womanizing Japanese foreign exchange student in the British soap opera, "Coronation Street" and also played a few bit parts in "Maison Ikkoku". Shinobu landed small roles in "Maison Ikkoku" as well, and also "The Facts of Life". Mendo got a chance to play his dream role as a sidekick in "Magnum, P.I." And Cherry appeared as a homeless man in one episode of "Hill Street Blues".  
  
Ran: I auditioned for the role of Christine in "Phantom of the Opera" when it was first coming out in London. A Dappya monster: We landed a record deal. You probably wouldn't remember us now, but brother, back in the summer of '86, everyone was doing "The Dappya Dance".  
  
Narrator: Lum, however, was sinking into a downward spiral. Someone- probably the disgruntled Shinobu or the sex and publicity-crazed Happosai- had leaked to the press the secret that she and Ataru had actually been married, and the tabloids were all over her, spreading lurid, graphic lies about the alien girl. To escape this, Lum began consuming copious amounts of alcohol and drugs, and it started to show.  
  
Benten: I saw her a few times during that "lost weekend" period. I-I couldn't believe how far she had fallen in just a few short months. I tried to tell her, Lummy-chan honey, you can't do this to yourself. You're only 25. You're beautiful, you have a wonderful daughter to take care of, you've got to get help.  
  
Narrator: Unfortunately, Lum was too dazed with drugs to recognize that she needed help. Fortunately, Benten once found her, passed out on the kitchen floor of her house, and took her to the Betty Ford Clinic. Her daughter Rumiko was left in the custody of Lum's parents, and sure enough, by the end of summer, Lum was clean and sober. It was just in time to begin filming on what would become the first of several original direct-to-video episodes of "Urusei Yatsura", released in September 1986.  
  
Sakura: It was nice to get back together with the gang, even if on a less regular basis. We all still loved the series, and now that we now had four months between shootings instead of one week, we had a bit more breathing room, and could feel more comfortable.  
  
Narrator: In early 1987 the last chapter of the "Urusei Yatsura" manga appeared in Shonen Sunday magazine. The final story was so highly rated by fans, that the producers soon began asking the cast; how would they like to film one more movie, based on the final chapters of the manga series? There would be one aspect that one longtime cast member would much enjoy- the Space Taxi Driver, whose last major appearance had been in the second TV episode, would have a crucial role in the film.  
  
Shinobu: You can imagine we were all pretty surprised. We didn't mind doing the video episodes, but the movies just involved so many tough stunts, and they, in my opinion, had been the most stressful roles. I was a bit afraid that another movie would burn us out and put us at each other's throats again. But then I thought that, well, that series was what had really made me famous and built up my life. That, and Inaba the Dream Technician was thinking of marrying me, and we needed the money for starting a family.  
  
Narrator: So once again, the crew reunited for another full-length movie. And although everyone was quite tired and spent at the end of filming, when "The Final Chapter" opened in 1988, no one was disappointed. The movie was a worldwide success, and many critics, even the tough Siskel and Ebert, felt that the chemistry of the show's early years was back, at least for the time being.  
  
Ataru: When we finished, we thought whoa, "The Final Chapter". The movie version of the end of our original manga series. It felt like the end of an era, so it was kind of a sad moment for all of us. Of course it wasn't quite the end.  
  
Narrator: And indeed it wasn't. Several video specials would follow for the next three years. But after 1989's successful "I Howl at the Moon", many critics would feel that the series had run out of steam and deserved a rest.  
  
Megane: Yeah, I think they carried on a bit too long with the show. The plots were becoming repetitive, the directing sloppy, and once again we were starting to have some friction behind the scenes. Plus the world of anime was changing so much. "Gundam" had gone through like two incarnations, even "Maison Ikkoku" had long gone off the air, and "Ranma" was the talk of the town. Heck, our last movie, "Always My Darling", was a double feature with the first Ranma movie!  
  
Narrator: Unfortunately, many longtime fans also felt this. The last piece of "Urusei Yatsura" film was the sixth movie, "Always My Darling", released in late 1991. It had been a whole decade since the premiere of the TV series, and 13 years since the beginning of the manga. Sadly, the final film was a worldwide, critically panned flop, even in its native Japan. The popular franchise had ridden off into the sunset without fanfare or even much praise.  
  
Shinobu (sighing): I guess you could say we had been around for so long, everyone just forgot about us, and didn't really care much when we finally left. But they were still some of the best years of my life, and I wouldn't have missed them for the world. (Wipes away some tears.)  
  
Narrator: Today, more than a decade after their final screen appearance, the "Urusei" crew has gone their separate ways. Ataru attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Pornography Anonymous meetings, and in 1998 married Skuld of "Oh My Goddess" fame, despite her being 15 years younger. The two now have a daughter, Freya, and live in a beachside mansion on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Shinobu finds occasional roles in Japanese movies and TV commercials including one with her husband, Inaba. Mendo married fellow old money-child Asuka Mizunokoji, daughter of the Mizunokoji Sporting Goods Company, which merged with Mendo Enterprises after the two were married. Shutaro considered improving on his singing and acting careers, yet felt committed to his new family and running his company, which he described as being like "a much larger child." He currently divides most of his time between his family's vast ancestral estate in Tomobiki and his beach houses near Tokyo and on Okinawa Island. Lum, meanwhile, has secluded herself from the media and public ever since her last film appearance in 1991. Ever since, she has not been seen in public, and declined to appear on this "Behind the Anime" interview. However, she occasionally meets with the rest of the former "Urusei Yatsura" cast, who say that she currently lives quietly in Malibu, California, with her daughter Rumiko. It is not known whether she will ever make another public appearance, but there have been some rumors that she is currently working on an autobiography. Her daughter, meanwhile, has plans of her own. Rumiko Moroboshi (who looks just like Lum, but with black hair and brown eyes instead of her mom's green hair and blue eyes. She's wearing an "Inu- Yasha" T-shirt.): Yeah, my mom's told me about how rough show business can be, but it also sounds really exciting, and besides, I want to carry on the tradition she started. I'd also like to be sort of an edgy femme fatale sex symbol like my mom, maybe a James Bond girl. Oh, and, my mom doesn't want me to say too much, but let's just say you're gonna hear from us both again sometime in the near future.  
  
Narrator: And so, like most us, the cast of "Urusei Yatsura" looks back on their sometimes tumultuous, sometimes wonderful days of stardom with happiness.  
  
Shinobu: So would I do it again? Umm.yeah. Sure, there were a lot of bad times, but also a lot of good too.  
  
Benten: It was great. I'd like Lum's kid Rumi-chan to have a share of the action too. Maybe I'll talk to the director of the James Bond films and not only see if I can get her to be one of Bond's girlfriends, but also maybe ride around on my rocket bike! Yee-uh! Grrrl powah! (Pumps her fist into the air and laughs.)  
  
Ataru: Aww man, those were the best years of my life. What guy wouldn't like having all those women around him-OOFF!! (Skuld just whacked him over the head with her mallet.)  
  
Skuld: I thought you knew better than that, Darling. Now you quit talking like that and don't you ever.  
  
Narrator: On November 20, 2002, as this "Behind the Anime" episode was being completed, Sakurambo "Cherry" Sakuragaoka died of old age. Since no records of his birth can be found, we cannot assume Cherry's exact age, yet since records do show him leading a Japanese delegation to U.S. President Cleveland, and also babysitting American entrepreneur Charles Montgomery Burns, we can assume he was a rather ripe old age. As he was not well liked by the rest of the cast, none attended his funeral except his niece, Sakura. Nevertheless, we at "Behind the Anime" hold him in our memories.  
  
SAKURAMBO "CHERRY" SAKURAGAOKA  
  
?-2002  
  
Narrator: Next week on "Behind the Anime", "Ranma".  
  
Male Ranma: I mean, how many times do I have to tell people, I'M NOT GAY! That's like saying Ryoga, Mousse, and Shampoo are freaking animal fetishists, for crying out loud! 


End file.
